Unions: Good for college sports?: Front Burner

When Peter Sung Ohr, a National Labor Relations Board regional director in Chicago, ruled last month that Northwestern University football players "fall squarely within the [National Labor Relations] Act's broad definition of 'employee' …" he kicked off a potential transformative moment in college athletics.

The ruling opened the door for the team's scholarship players to vote whether or not to unionize.

Representatives of the College Athletes Players Association — which seeks to represent Northwestern players — argue that the time players commit to practice and preparation amounts to "duties of employment."

The effort, quarterbacked by former Northwestern signal-caller Kain Colter, aims to win coverage for injured players, concussion reform and other protections, union leaders say. That's the least that college athletes who generate gobs of revenue for their institutions under the charade of amateurism deserve, argues one of today's Front Burner columnists, a pay-for-play supporter.

Meanwhile, the National Collegiate Athletic Association strongly opposes "the notion that student-athletes are employees."

Critics of the notion argue unionization would be a game-changer — but in a bad way. Because of a raft of unintended consequences that would impact even non-athletes, today's other columnist argues that unionization would be a major fumble.

Read more about it

•"A Union of Amateurs: A Legal Blueprint to Reshape Big-Time College Athletics" offers a research perspective on the college unionization. Download it at ssrn.com/en/.

•You can read more from the players perspective at collegeathletespa.org/faq.